Whispers of a Screaming Soul
by Sakura-chan88
Summary: Rated for... just about everything Kagome is a tavern girl who meets a drunken boy who turns her world upside-down. IK
1. Where the Liquor Flows, the Heart Breaks

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Inuyasha, Rumko Takahashi does.**   
  


~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~ _ **   
Whispers of a Screaming Soul**   
Where the Liquor Flows, the Hearts Break_   
By Sakura-chan88   
~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~*o*~   
  
  
  
_'As the wind blows   
Through the Willow's whips   
A cry is heard   
As weeping, soft and sorrow-filled,   
And tears of fire fall'_

  
  
  
  
  
  
    Kagome followed after Sango, her eyes dull from the many years spent in the Nightingale's Bell- the saloon the sheriff called 'respectable.' It was only because he spent his every night in the so-called saloon. In truth, it was nothing more than a slave holding tavern.   
  
  
     Smog-like smoke entered already tar-caked lungs as the clattering of alcohol-containing bottles coming to a rest on a table top, or, more frequently, the hardwood floor, filled the air. Men lounged around lazily, grunting or cursing as 'friendly' talk with the other men who lounged around lazily, or staggered about drunkenly while slurring more curses, or messed shamelessly with the saloon girls.   
  
  
     Being one of the aforementioned 'girls', Kagome had dressed in the usual attire: a loose, low cut, off-white silken blouse, with a short, blood red and thoroughly worn skirt. Her hair was pulled into an 'elegent' sweeping tail with curls tangling themselves around faux diamond studded earrings. The perfume she used, though noticeably less than the other women, was horribly powerful, still burning her eyes after the many years of inhaling the toxic fragrance. The powder clinging to her face also remained just as foreign as the cologne's stinging scent.   
  
  
     Ten years... Tonight was the marking of her first horrid night as a slave in this 'saloon'.   
  
  
     Ten years had passed since her mother was murdered in cold blood and she sold herself, her life, her being, over in order to-   
  
  
     Ten years and the 21 year old Kagome Higurashi had forgotten her reasons for choosing this life by crying the memories away each time another man entered her.   
  
  
     Ten years of abuse.   
  
  
     Ten years of no one caring.   
  
  
     Ten years of a battered heart and a bruised body screaming for rescue.   
  
  
     Ten had always been her lucky number.   
  
  
     "Kagome," Sango called gently, grabbing her arm. "You can't let them see you frowning like that. Remember what boss did last time he saw you?"   
  
  
    Last time she had frowned in the presence of the tavern's patrons and her boss had witnessed it, Kagome had come face to heel with his steel-toe boots. Even with the sinister bruising around her left eye and a split lip, she was forced to 'work'... and was pulled to the side by a man you loved playing rough. The purpling flesh was exactly what he liked to see... Needless to say, Kagome did not want to go through anything like that again since it had wound up being an almost month-long punishment with all the sick bastards that took violence as a turn-on.   
  
  
    The said girl forced a pleasant smile, bringing her hand up to squeeze her friends reassuring grip for comfort. A few men shouted, excitement pounding through the room as they noticed the girls looking at each other in mutual understanding.   
  
  
     "Kiss!" A chorus sounded, entering the stifling air. "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"   
  
  
     Kagome held back an inward groan as Sango's reached her ears, but no one else's. They held back a shiver of disgust as their boss, clad in a black business suit and the same foreboding steel-toe boots, appeared from a darkened corner with cold eyes, nodding for them to comply with the benefactors' wish. The friends sighed an apology to the other before pulling themselves closer and locking quivering lips. The only thing that kept away their tears were a few quiet and comforting thoughts.   
  
  
     At least they understood each other.   
  
  
     At least they knew the person pressed against their own body.   
  
  
     At least it wasn't another guy to have their own way then leave the broken girl in the dust as the next day dawned.   
  
  
     At least the kiss had some feeling behind it beside the usual desire or spite- it had friendship.   
  
  
     Breaking apart, they turned together to locate the origin of the order, Kagome whispering lowly, "do they always have to assume?"   
  
  
     "Men will be pigs," Sango stated, hissing as she found their target. "Well, well- look who's back."   
  
  
     "It's men will be men, not pigs, Sango."   
  
  
     "I don't see any difference in the two."   
  
  
     "True," Kagome laughed dryly, a wry smile forming on her lips. "Now- who's here?"   
  
  
     Before she could be answered, she was pulled from her friend's side by a drunken, grinning man. She held back the urge to slap him away and let herself be dragged to a lone chair in the corner of the tavern.   
  
  
     "Dance," he ordered, pressing her to his body with a forceful hand, breath repulsive with the stench of booze. He fell back into the chair, releasing her slim form. "C'mon, dance fer me, wench."   
  
  
     Kagome forced a seductive smile, following the man's order after taking a swig from his beer bottle and winking. "Anything you want, handsome."   
  
  
  


()()()()()()()()()()()()()() 

  
  
  
  
    "It was Hiten, again," Sango whispered hurriedly as she passed her friend, her 'man for the night' staggeringly pulling her toward the closest room- Sango's room.   
  
  
     Kagome nodded in understanding. Hiten was a regular there and had always managed to get Kagome or Sango to kiss one of the other females. What was it with men and seeing women kiss?   
  
  
     She shook it off, assisting her own drunkard to her room. He was lean, which helped, but heavy nonetheless, causing them to stumble more than once. He would grunt and protest her proffered help, then fall back into her when she let him walk without support.   
  
  
     She noted, with slight amusement and great bewilderment, that the man couldn't hold liquor well.   
  
  
    Not well at all...   
  
  
     Reaching the room designated for her, Kagome pushed its door open, wincing at what was to come as the man wrapped his arms around her waist, nuzzling her neck. She kicked the door deftly shut behind them, bracing herself as he turned her to face him.   
  
  
     Dull blue-gray eyes met drunken golden orbs before his soft lips possessively covered hers, hands working their way under her shirt, their calloused fingers never moving any higher than the base of a smooth stomach.   
  
  
     A tear sped down Kagome's pale cheek as she led him slowly over to the small worn down bed.   
  
  
     Forget her lucky number ten. Tonight would be like all the others and this man would be just as rough handling as her first. Figures a ten year anniversary would be that way- never changing from the original day, the first day it celebrated with such blandness.   
  
  
     She circled her arms around his neck, willing herself to keep from vomiting at the familiarity of such actions, and pulled him down with her. He shifted to rest himself between her legs, supported up on his knees as he continued his kissing, trailing them down her neck. His hands moved to pull the blouse up over her head, eyes unfocused and dazed, before moving to grip the underside of her thighs and pull her closer. She quickly took the cue and began to tug at the buttons on his shirt, briefly letting her fingers brush against his silver hair.   
  
  
     The only thing she could be thankful for this night that made it so different from her first was the intoxicating poison (alcohol) seeping through her veins to drown out the feelings.   
  
  
     Yet, her heart continued to contract painfully in her chest. No matter what type of numbing aid she had to help her through, she couldn't take away what was happening, she couldn't change the past, she couldn't regain what she had lost those ten years ago.   
  
  
    His clothes were discarded.   
  
  
    Nothing would ever be able to take the pain from her. Nothing would ever be able to make everything right as it had once been so many years before. Nothing, not a single thing, could help her when she needed it the most... because the time when she had needed it the most had already come to pass...   
  
  
     Those exploring male hands slipped from their spot on her legs- one to tangle in her hair and pull with surprising gentleness to expose her neck fully, the other placed in the small of her back to press her tighter to his now bare physique. His lips trailed down from the woman's lips to the base of her neck once more, his breathing becoming all the more ragged.   
  
  
     More tears fell from her closed eyes, eyelashes weighed down with dew-like drops of salty water. She felt awful for assuming he'd be rough, but damned him in her mind for being there in the first place. There was no excusing any person for messing with another in such a way.   
  
  
     He lowered her slowly back to the bed, his hand cushioning her head as an extra barrier along with the feather pillow, lips returning hungrily for her own. Again, his hand on her back moved to roam the inside of her thigh, light as could be. Kisses traveled back down to her neck, reaching her collar bone before it stopped, only to be replaced by a gentle grazing of fangs over flesh.   
  
  
     Kagome caught the whimper from escaping her- a whimper pleading for the stranger to stop. The fangs didn't scare her... they were oddly comforting... but...   
  
  
    She wanted everything to be over, everything to be different, everything to be normal like her ten-year old 'once upon a time' life had been.   
  
  
     She had prayed for so long...   
  
  
     She had hoped for so long...   
  
  
     She had wept for so long...   
  
  
     And ten thousand silent pleas went unheard.   
  
  
     And ten thousand wishes went unrealized.   
  
  
     And ten thousand tears went unnoticed, uncared for, unconfined...   
  
  
     A glimmer of light appeared before her eyes every time she passed one the windows, or the open tavern door. A black rain cloud barred her path for the lack of a place to go, for the knowledge of what could happen, for the courage she had long since lost.   
  
  
     She just wanted it to end.   
  
  
     A sudden weight fell on top of her, heavy and unmoving. Heartbeats against her chest unknown to her and slow, steady, rhythmic, yet shallow intakes of breath from the stranger told her he had fallen unconscious while trailing kisses and ivory fangs over her collarbone.   
  
  
    She bit back a cry of shock, remaining motionless for some time. This had never happened before and she had no idea what she was to do... until a small smile formed on her lips and she released her previously withheld breath. For once, she let herself sigh in the presence of a man as tears flowed freely.   
  
  
     Her first true sigh of a twisted kind of contentment in ten whole years.   
  
  
     This would be the first night she wouldn't have to remember as herself being just another man's night cap. She couldn't stop the soft murmur from pouring passed her trembling lips to the person who knew not of who she was or what he had done.   
  
  
     "... Thank you."   
  
  
  


_'As the day ends   
And evanescence begins   
A cry is heard   
For a bitter taste of joy   
At the Unintentional'   
~Sakura-chan88's Whispers of a Screaming Soul_

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
**A/N:** Hope you liked the start- YES, THIS IS JUST THE START (just trying to keep all the 'is this a one-shot?' like questions at bay). I'm not good with... scenes... like - well - you know... So this story may sound a bit odd since it is based around Kagome being a prostitute at the Nightingale's Bell. Please tell me what you think and how I might be able to change it for the better. I'm counting on this to be a shorter fic than most of my others, but I haven't exactly worked out all of my idea's for this story, so it's really open to anything. If you have an idea you'd like to see, tell me and I'll try and work it in.   
  
Thanks for reading!   
_~Sakura-chan88 _


	2. A Genuine Smile, A Welcomed Laugh

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Inuyasha, Rumiko Takahashi does.**   
  


ooooooooooooooooo _ **   
Whispers of a Screaming Soul**   
A Genuine Smile, A Welcomed Laugh_   
By Sakura-chan88   
ooooooooooooooooo   
  
_'As darkness consumes   
All that once was lively   
A cry is heard   
As an empty echo   
Through a vacant eternity'_

  
  
Kagome sat at the small table, the candle light flickering to cast shadows on her face as figures danced gleefully across the walls. The night was windy, the windows pulled taunt to slam against its hinges the next moment, the howling echo creating a picture-perfect horror scene, albeit there was no thundering or flashes of lightening.   
  
A frown was etched clearly on her lips, her brow crinkled in thought. She wasn't shocked, not completely... After all, there were many a time that the man who accompanied her passed out, but... never _before_ they touched home plate.   
  
Her hands fiddled absently with the hem of her skirt which, unsurprisingly, had been torn by some nameless man a few nights back. It wouldn't be fixed for some time, that she knew for the simple fact that her owner - her boss - liked the idea of more flesh exposed to new customers.   
  
_Entice them and rob them blind through uncontrollable and unnoticed addiction._   
  
Somehow, she doubted they were completely unaware of the aforementioned _addiction_. Especially people like Hiten, his brother, and the ever-present goody-goody-wannabe Hojo who was 'concerned' with Kagome's 'health', yet was more abusive than most of the other men to grace the Nightingale's Bell. Too bad he only went for Kagome. Sango would kill him if he hit her (she nearly decapitated Bankotsu for bruising her arms). They all seemed to know when they were being dragged down and would leap out of reach as quick as lightening, leaving the saloon for a day or two.   
  
Her boss laughed heartily when she pointed out the fact that the tear in her skirt could eventually unravel the remaining intact cloth. He laughed even harder when she requested a new one or the damage to be fixed.   
  
She hated men! They were pigs- just like Sango said- total, utter pigs! Uncaring, selfish, heartless beasts in human flesh- that's what they were!   
  
... And the one sleeping off the liquor semi-contently in her bed was the first to give her any kind of break... even if only by unintentionally falling asleep. He was the first to ever make her seriously think about her definition of man... But, then again, he was here and that just meant he was a skirt-chasing bastard like every other man...   
  
A muffled moan escaped the stranger, causing her to jump lightly. Her gaze flickered to his form, unsure how to react if he were to wake and become violent. Last time that had happened, the man had thrown her into the side of her table, the corner's edge slicing deeply into her side just above her hip. It left a nasty scar, too.   
  
However, this stranger merely rolled onto his side, groaning.   
  
Kagome sighed, clicking her tongue in a chiding manner at the slumbering male, knowing the signs of a hangover when she saw them. She moved over to her shelf of medicines and drew forth her homemade hangover remedy- a dry syrupy substance tasting strongly of radish and maple. Though it was disgusting, it worked wonders.   
  
"Hey," she called softly, shaking his shoulder. "You need to take this."   
  
She was polite - it was in her being - even if she hated men. After all, he had given her a chance for a night without the same thousand tears she usually shed.   
  
He grumbled, opening two bleary eyes, unfocused and fazed. Blinking rapidly, he hissed at the power of the tiny candle's dim illumination on his eyes. "Wha... Wherem?"   
  
"The Nightingale's Bell, sir," Kagome replied, finding no difficulty deciphering his speech. She had years of practice with translating drunk to sober. "You had become drunken and passed out several hours ago."   
  
He blinked owlishly, clearing his eyes of their remaining glaze. "My headspinen roun'."   
  
"Take this, sir."   
  
He looked at the syrup bottle, frowning before attempting to sit up. When he faltered and began to fall back, Kagome quickly slipped an arm behind his shoulders, hefting him up again as she squeezed in to sit behind him. The added support kept him up-right.   
  
He was muscular to a natural extent, his body radiating warmth even though he shook with cold from the lack of proper clothing. His shoulders were broad, his silver hair unkempt. She remembered his unnatural golden eyes, his heavy brows and long lashes, his thin lips pulled into a drunken grin, his fangs brushing across her collarbone...   
  
He moved to take the remedy, fumbling with the small bottle. A movement caught her attention, pulling her gaze to the crown of his head.   
  
Two small, triangular ears were perched there, flickering this way and that in what appeared to be both confusion and irritation.   
  
_'Another youkai, huh?'_ she thought. It wasn't surprising with golden eyes. Hiten, a blood red-eyed lightening youkai, had been her first demonic experience and she was hesitant to say, it wasn't half bad... Hiten had been the most gentle handling of all.   
  
"ACK!"   
  
"Don't spit it out! Drink up- it'll help your headache and churning stomach," she informed him hurriedly. There was no way she would get the smell out of her bed if he spit it out!   
  
A few grumbles later, the bottle was emptied and the man slumped back tiredly into Kagome's arms. "Thanksh."   
  
Kagome felt the corner of her lips pull into something quite foreign to her at the childish display... a genuine smile. She shrugged it off, calling it a fluke and turned into business mode. "Listen, my boss won't like it if you're here in the morning. Let's move you to a guest room. It'll cost you a good amount of money, though."   
  
He grunted. "Don't have... 'nough...m'neh..."   
  
... Her heart stopped as the words worked their way into place. "Wha... WHAT!?" she shrieked, arms instantly out by her sides, letting the man she had previously held in a stable position fall. "You better have enough to pay me!"   
  
He yelped in surprise at the same moment that Kagome bound to her feet, glaring down at his prone form. "Whafor?"   
  
She paled immediately, all color leaving her face to be replaced by a ghostly white. "You... You can't be serious, sir," she stated, her lips trembling in disbelief as she tugged insecurely on the broken hem of her skirt. "You... do know you're at the Nightingale's Bell, right? You know what... I am, right?"   
  
His brows furrowed, lips pursed in thought. "Not that I r'call."   
  
_ 'His speech is returning, getting stronger...'_ She shook the thought away.   
  
"Sir, you're at the Nightingale's Bell- the tavern known for it's beer and... women." She hoped she could jog his memory a bit without spelling it out. "I'm... one of those women- I'm Bell- just like the other women employed here."   
  
"Bell?" he repeated, trying out the feel of the name on his tongue. "I don't know a Bell."   
  
"You don't know me, sir," she whispered, her eyes downcast in shame at her situation- her status in society.   
  
His ears flickered to catch those words. "What do you mean, I don't know you?"   
  
"This is your first night here," Kagome answered, kneeling on the floor to be eye level with the stranger. "Or... at least, I think it is. I have never before seen you."   
  
"Oh..." he mumbled, shrugging it off. He moved to sit up again, blinking a bit. "Wow that stuff really worked."   
  
"Thank you. It's my own remedy, sir."   
  
"Hm..."   
  
"Now, back to business."   
  
The man's ears swiveled to the sound of her voice just as he shuffled out of the bed. "Oi... where are my... clothes...?"   
  
"Beside you, sir," she answered, adding as an afterthought, "I didn't feel right trying to dress you."   
  
"Why would I have- Oh..." he muttered quietly. "Oh... Oh Gods...!" His eyes widened to their fullest, second by second. Kagome recognized the flash in his eyes- the flash unraveling a foggy memory. Realization had finally dawned. "What have I done...? Oh Gods- please no. Please, please tell me I didn't...!"   
  
Kagome's eyes lit with alarm. There was despair in his voice, desperation to be told whatever slight glimpse of a memory he had seen was not true. He was frightened to think he had taken advantage of her. No man had ever reacted like that...   
  
Not a single one...   
  
How was she supposed to handle such a situation? Tell him its okay? No, it wasn't okay. Tell him he didn't do anything? No- he had messed with her- drunken state or not. Tell him nothing happened? No, something happened and he would eventually remember it all. And she wouldn't lie to him...   
  
He was in hysterics by now. "No- this can't be- I- I... Please, tell me this is a dream- nightmare- NOT REAL...!"   
  
"It is real, I won't lie to you."   
  
He buried his face into the palms of his hands, his breathing speeding up one moment, then slowing the next. Kagome thought, for the slightest second, that she saw his shoulders shake with what could only be called a silent sob - _'out of helplessness, most likely,'_ she thought.   
  
Moments passed in a purifying silence. Kagome frowned at the tugging at the barrier encasing her heart... Where was it coming from?   
  
A hand snaked out to cup her chin, concern shining in the man's golden eyes as his ears flattened to his skull. "I- I didn't hurt you, did I?"   
  
Kagome strangled a startled gasp, shivers running down her spine at the awkwardness of this entire situation and feel of his hand. Never, not once, had any man cared enough to ask. That desperate cry in his voice and the haunted echoing look in his eyes were too much.   
  
Tears formed in her eyes, tingling- a feeling that she had believed had long since died when her everyday bout of tears brought nothing to feel but emptiness. Her throat burned, contracting as she swallowed the lump beginning to form there.   
  
It was ironic....   
  
She had always wanted someone to care, and now that someone did...   
  
She wanted to cry because... it hurt- mentally and emotionally, it hurt... and no bruise would appear from those injuries.   
  
"Y- you didn't... harm me," she choked out. Harm was a physical injury, after all. She wasn't going to break her vow of honesty with the stranger.   
  
Relief flooded his features, his hand dropping to clutch the side of the bed. His eyes closed as he released his held breath. "... What... happened...?"   
  
Her lip trembled, fighting back the sob in her throat. She didn't answer him for a while, watching as he paced his breathing, eyeballs clearly moving beneath closed lids to catch whatever might appear in the darkness. "Do you really want to know?"   
  
Eyes still closed, he nodded, adding a soft and decisive, "yes."   
  
Kagome brushed her tears away before they fell and sniffled, moving to sit at the table once more. "Well..."   
  


()()()()()()()()()()()()()() 

  
  
"What's your name?"   
  
"Bell," Kagome answered for the twelfth time. "It's the only name I'm allowed to give you, and it's the only name you'll get from me, so drop it already."   
  
The silver haired stranger sighed dejectedly. It had been two hours since he'd awoken, his memory now back in full. He had scowled furiously at himself, apologizing every three seconds, each apology annunciated by the resounding snap of his forehead hitting the table top of its own free will.   
  
"Right, so if I were to come back here and yell, 'Hey, Bell, get your ass over here,' you'd be the only one to listen?" he snorted. "Come on, give me a real name- or something else to call you by."   
  
Kagome's eyes narrowed. First he acts disgusted with himself for ever setting foot into the tavern and now he was planning on returning and meeting her again? Just what the hell was his problem?- it had to be mental... "And you'd come back here, why?"   
  
"I might just want a drink or two."   
  
"A drink or two would have you right back into one of these rooms with another companion and, most likely, in a worse state," Kagome noted dryly.   
  
"... Yeah, I guess that's not such a smart idea..." He sighed, rubbing sore eyes. "My business could always lead me here, though."   
  
"Eh? And what's your business?"   
  
"I'm the co-owner of the Western Lands company," he replied, smirking.   
  
Kagome, for the first time in ten years... well, without Sango's help...   
  
... She laughed. It was more rattling than the concern this stranger had shown.   
  
A man had made her laugh.   
  
But she acted as if it was an everyday thing, masking the shock at her own actions. To have anyone suspicious about her truthful uneasiness at being a prostitute at such a... place... was certain suicide if her boss caught wind of it.   
  
"The Western Lands company?" she repeated, slapping her palm against the table top. Oh, that's a laugh! "The biggest alcohol selling corporation? You?" He nodded, a slightly perplexed look of indignation crawling into his features. "No way!"   
  
"And why is that so hard to believe?" he snapped.   
  
Kagome sobered instantly at his tone, and turned pale once more. "I'm sorry, sir, that was out of line for me. Forgive me," she whispered, eyes wide and downcast.   
  
His ears twitched, his eyes narrowing. "What the...?" He watched as she furiously glared holes into her lap, refusing to look up at him. "... Are you... afraid of something?"   
  
"... Everyone's afraid of something, sir," she whispered.   
  
"What are you afraid of?"   
  
Kagome's eyes rose to meet his...   
  
"I'm afraid... of..."   
  
_ "I'm not afraid of you!"   
  
"That is not a problem."   
  
"Stay away from me, you monster! Mama mama!"   
  
"I thought you weren't scared?"   
  
"Stay away let go of me! Let me go!"   
  
"Kagome! Oh gods, let her go, please! She has nothing to do with this."   
  
"Mama!"   
  
"I'm afraid that I cannot comply to your wishes, Myaeko. You are no longer useable and you still owe so much."   
  
"She's too young - those men will kill her. Please, I'll think of another way."   
  
"There is no other way."   
  
"She is your own flesh and blood!"   
  
"My former self, Myaeko."   
  
"She still is yours- half of half of you, if you will... Please..."   
  
"Ten days, Myaeko. Have a steady job and wages, then we'll talk about our little Kagome here."   
  
"Keep your foul mouth off of my daughter, Naraku."   
  
"Ours... Ten days."   
  
"... Mama? Who was that man?"   
  
"Oh, Kagome... I'm so sorry..."_   
  
"... I'm afraid of the night," Kagome blurted out. "I'm afraid of what I'll be told to do when night returns... afraid of who I'll end up with..."   
  
The man frowned. "Why did you choose to work here, then?"   
  
Her eyes dulled... "It's not of your concern, nor part of any business you have here. It is close to morning and time for you to leave," she said, keeping her dismissal short and clipped.   
  
He didn't move, his eyes boring into hers to gauge some sort of answer to a question he chose not to voice. "And we're back to square one,"he sighed. "Very well then... Bell... However, you should know that I will be back eventually, since it's impossible to keep that damnable friend of mine away," he stated, a small smile forming on his lips. "I hope you won't let me do anything I'll regret."   
  
Kagome blinked dumbfoundedly. Had he just told her... to stop him from allowing another person to pleasure him? Well, she didn't really have a problem with it, but her boss on the other hand, that was a different case entirely... "Very well, sir."   
  
"Inuyasha."   
  
Kagome's lips quirked. "And here I was thinking you were a cat youkai."   
  
"Cat?" he spat, eye brows raised. "What would lead you to believe I was a cat?"   
  
"Your ears."   
  
"Cat's have pointy ears."   
  
"Your ears are pointy," Kagome connoted.   
  
"Pointier than mine."   
  
"But your eyes, too?"   
  
"What- because they're slit?"   
  
"Actually, I was thinking along the lines of their color."   
  
"You're basing this all on a normal dog."   
  
"And?"   
  
"I'm not a dog."   
  
"Right- that's because you're a cat."   
  
"No!" he cried in exasperation. "I'm a dog HANYOU- not a stupid fucking CAT youkai!"   
  
"Oh, okay," Kagome piped, smiling again as a light giggle bubbled up her throat and spilled from her lips. She was enjoying the little silly 'argument' with the man, watching his ears swivel and his eyes spark. It was nice for a change and there was no way her boss could punish her for it. Somehow, she knew- for some unexplainable reason, she trusted this man, this stranger Inuyasha, and knew he would not be telling her boss or complaining about her rebellious actions (all in good nature, of course).   
  
Maybe that was because he was grinning from ear to ear- um, where they should be, at least.   
  
"So... Inuyasha... until we meet again," Kagome stated, outstretching a hand to him. They shook the clasped hands in farewell. "Oh, and when you happen by the Nightingale's Bell again, sir, bring my money with you..."   
  
"Eh?" Another raised eyebrow followed the small questioning release of breath. "I didn't go all the way, though."   
  
"You spent your night here and drank the last of my remedy. Gods only know what kind of pain I'll be going through in the mornings until I can mix another."   
  
Inuyasha shook his head with a snort. "Right. Well, 'til next we meet."   
  
Kagome watched as he bowed slightly, silver hair slipping around to rest at various places about him. His ears twitched to the light sound of the tresses moving against his shirt material. Looking up once more, his golden eyes captured her blue-gray orbs for a fraction of a second before he turned and left, closing her door gently in his wake.   
  
"Maybe... there is such a thing as an honestly good man."   
  
The smile on her lips lasted even as she slipped into her bed, alone for once, and drifted into sleep. However, the lack of warmth around her tugged at her melting resolve - the resolve of being cold towards all that was outside of her pleasant pieces life (time with Sango) - that had only hours ago encased her heart.   
  
She was free to feel again. To feel...   
  


_'While the water flows   
As the ice melts   
A cry is heard   
For the loss of one great thing   
To bring about another'   
Sakura-chan88's Whispers of a Screaming Soul_

  
  
**A/N:** Well, how was it? I know descriptions were really poor this chapter, and I'm sorry for it, but I wasn't able to squeeze anything better in. It just wasn't possible.   
  
Well, please review, readers!   
  
_Sakura-chan88 _


	3. Meeting One Taking Two Talking Freely

**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Inuyasha, Rumiko Takahashi does.**  
  


**ooooooooooooooooo **_  
**Whispers of a Screaming Soul**  
Meeting One; Taking Two; Talking Freely_  
By Sakura-chan88  
**ooooooooooooooooo**

  
  
_'As fear of night-dark creeps into a soul  
And the soul cowers away  
A cry is heard  
As a terror-filled plea  
To be saved by the light of day'_  
  
Kagome bit her bottom lip, sitting in her bed and wrapped in the blanket he had been in, remembering his eyes, his ears, his voice... full of concern and fear and life. She couldn't erase the horror and dread of dawning comprehension that had laced his words and actions.  
  
Why now? Why think about it after such a pleasent sleep?  
  
Perhaps it was because of the shadow figure standing at the edge of each subconscious image produced and projected in her deep slumber on the bed he had laid in hours earlier. The shadow figure who grew with each joyful moment and deflated in each terrorizied glimpse of a nightmare. The shadow figure with golden eyes and distinguishable triangular ears atop its' head.  
  
Kagome shook her head, blinking her eyes and gazing down at the hand that clasped the blanket securely around her. "What am I thinking...?"  
  
That wasn't hard to answer. She was thinking, clearly, 'I wish he was here...'  
  
So foolish a wish, too- a wish to want a man beside her when she was supposed to hate them. Sango would laugh if only she knew...  
  
"Kagome-chan?"  
  
Her head snapped up in alarm, startled eyes locking onto glistening cinnamon orbs sported by a face she knew all too well. "Sango-chan! You scared me!" she cried, her hand dropping from the cloth embracing her.  
  
"Oh, Kagome-chan..." the woman whispered, as she entered the room and closed the door behind her. "... It's awful..."  
  
She reacted instantly, leaping from the bed to help the older girl to the table when she began to slither to the floor. Something was wrong- Sango never acted like some weak, teenage girl. Never. Then she heard the suspicious sniffle...  
  
"Sango-chan! God, what happened!?" Kagome shrieked, kneeling before the woman settled in her chair. There were tears in her eyes. In Sango's eyes known so well for their steel-like quality. "What did he do!? Did he hurt you?"  
  
Sango's chin quivered. "I wish he had- oh, how I wish he had..."  
  
_"What have I done...? Oh Gods- please no. Please, please tell me I didn't...!"_  
  
Familiarity rang through the air, piercing the confusion and planting comprehension. "He didn't bed you..."  
  
Sango nodded. "He... want to... talk... Drunken as he was... He..." She sucked in a raggedly shuttering breath, tears spilling forth.  
  
_He was in hysterics by now. "No- this can't be- I- I... Please, tell me this is a dream- nightmare- NOT REAL...!"_  
  
"What about, Sango-chan?" Kagome whispered the gentle encouragement.  
  
"Me..."  
  
_A hand snaked out to cup her chin, concern shining in the man's golden eyes as his ears flattened to his skull. "I- I didn't hurt you, did I?"_  
  
"About you?" Kagome whispered.  
  
"Yes... About me- why I was here, what I feared..."  
  
_"... Are you... afraid of something?"_  
  
"... What my name was..."  
  
_"What's your name?"_  
  
"He didn't accept Bell, did he?" Kagome whispered, her lips curling into a smile at the memory of Inuyasha's persistance.  
  
"Not at all," Sango gurgled in an attempt to laugh at her previous situation.  
  
"And?" Kagome prompted. "Did you tell him?"  
  
"What- and have him ask for me directly so Naraku could find out I talked clean to a customer?" Sango said sadistically. "I don't think so."  
  
"He give you a name?"  
  
"Cinnamon."  
  
"He noticed your eyes first," Kagome chuckled lightly. "That's a good sign."  
  
"Yeah, I suppose so... But Miroku seemed to be... a pervert- but how can he be a pervert who doesn't want sex?" Sango sighed. "Last night was so confusing..."  
  
Kagome nodded and sighed. "Looks like we have something in common with last night."  
  
"Eh?"  
  
"For one, we both got names of the men..."  
  
At the quizzical tone and lifted brow from her friend, Kagome settled down for a long recount of the night before.  
  


* * *

He stumbled into the tavern, drunken already from the last bar he had been tossed out of. He was seeking escape- escape from the knowledge of the inevitable. Inevitable happenings that he knew about ahead of time he always found to be the most disconserting and horrible of things that would happen. After all, why know about something that's about to happen you don't want to have happen and be unable to change it?  
  
He was immediately greeted by the tavern owner, a slick looking man in a black business suit wrapped in the pelt of a babboon demon. He grinned drunkenly as the man handed him a mug of the local toxic Marsh-Malt Liquor and waving off the folded bills.  
  
"On the house, Mr. Ookami," he declared, stretching out a hand toward the lounge area with a polite 'after you' bow.  
  
Mr. Ookami left the man to claim a seat near the youngest group of tavern girls before he set his sight on one particular provocatively dancing female, her long black hair dancing around her as her ripped skirt inched its' way higher on her thigh by the guidance of her hand in a slow, seductive manner. Her eyes blazed blue with a shadowing gray when the nearest girl whispered something in her ear and she turned to flash her gentle smile at a short old man taking a seat behind her.  
  
"Myouga, I thought you left town," he heard her sweet voice float through the room as the noise gathered and her words were lost.  
  
_'She'll do as a perfect distraction.'_

* * *

Kagome felt the eyes watching her back with a predatory gaze. She knew a lot of eyes were on her, including her boss's, but this was a different gaze she sensed. This gaze had determination and demon written all over it. Focasing on the old man in front of her, she tried to ignore the stare and almost succeeded.  
  
"I did, but I'm back," the old man called Myouga replied as Kagome entertained her previous customer with a quick swing of her hips and a light trace of her fingers up his thigh. "Ryu didn't make it."  
  
"I'm sorry to hear that, Myouga," Kagome called over her shoulder as she made a grab for Hiten's mug. "What's it tonight, Fire-eyes?"  
  
"The strongest."  
  
"Western Land's newest brew," Manten offered as he slipped his hands around her to grab her derriere. "Came in the shipment yesterday."  
  
_'Western Land, eh?'_ Kagome smirked at the comprending look on Sango's face as she tossed the drink back and downed it, the burn in her throat excrusiating and sending her over the edge of reality and off balance to land in Myouga's arms.  
  
"Careful, girl," Myouga chuckled. "You're lucky I stopped by Kaede's for her spell-casting or you would have squashed me."  
  
"I wish you hadn't," Jiroumaru muttered. "You're triple the pest you are this way. The girls are here for seduction, not chat."  
  
"I don't enjoy taking advantage of these young women."  
  
"They wouldn't be here unless they wanted to be taken advantage of," a new voice amended, arms circling around Kagome's waste and tossing her over a broad shoulder. "Let's go, bitch."  
  
Kagome choked back her surprise and grabbed Sango's arm as she passed unwillingly. Sango nodded at the look in her eyes, mouthing, _'Silver and gold. I got it.'  
  
'With ears of a pup,'_ Kagome mouthed back with a drunken grin.

* * *

Sure enough, the hanyou strutted through the swinging half-doors with Miroku directly behind him half an hour later. Sango cursed her luck. She'd have to emprovise... After all, Miroku had said he wouldn't allow her to be taken advantage of by anyone, so he'd be taking her to 'bed'.  
  
And, if they were friends...  
  
That was not appealing to her in the least. Two men being caring... Oh, no. Only in her wildest dreams... (no- she never even thought about it because it was too far fetched of a dream...) would she ever hope... nope, not even then...  
  
Sango laughed with Kikyou before she slipped out of the group of smog inhaling, toxin drinking fools to bow in welcome to the two, making a grab for Inuyasha's arm. Miroku gave her a confused, pouting look.  
  
"I think I can take you both on. I'm a fiesty little vixen," she purred, taking Miroku by a loop in his belt. "Plus, I'm doing a favor for a friend," she whispered, looking into the striking golden eyes of Kagome's concern. "She couldn't stop you tonight because she was dragged off early."  
  
The silver haired man smirked and played along, wrapping a strong arm under her knees and hoisting her over his shoulder. Miroku blinked and gaped at Sango's actions as well as his best friends.  
  
"I've always talked about a three-some, but that didn't mean it included another guy," he mumbled.  
  
Inuyasha chuckled and walked away. "Your loss, bud. I'll be sure to give her enough pleasure for the both of us."  
  
That got Miroku moving.  
  
Sango relaxed, but tugged hard on Inuyasha's hair. "Your shoulder is hurting me!" she hissed, slapping his butt for the show of it. "Giddy-up, Doggie!"  
  
She just hoped that was enough to fool her boss.

* * *

Kagome didn't understand it. The man above her had so little focus about what he was doing; his eyes were fogged over, she noted when he sat up a moment to remove her shirt, and the frown on his face told her something was terribly wrong and tearing him apart- which could mean trouble for her poor human hips if he put his energy into his thrusts.  
  
His hands roved her body as his lips traveled down between her breasts and stopped above her navel. She couldn't bring herself to fake anything. She just laid back and watched him, waiting for him to do whatever his inebriated mind commanded. When he paused and planted his face in the soft of her belly, her consciousness screamed its confusion.  
  
Her hands absently moved to stroke his velvet black hair in a soothing motion.  
  
"I'm engaged."  
  
The confession caught Kagome off guard. Her hands paused. "Engaged?"  
  
"Mmm. Don't even know 'er," he said against her stomach, hands sliding easily under her to press her closer. "Dad made a promise... to her mother."  
  
"You want to talk about it?"  
  
The man brought himself up into a sitting position, his midnight blue eyes locking wozzily with hers. His hair slipped from its loose tie to frame and enclose his disheveled appearance. "I- I just want to forget."  
  
"It will all come back in the morning, Mr...."  
  
"Kouga Ookami."  
  
"Mr. Ookami," Kagome dubbed him. "It may help to talk about it. Can you, or are you too tipsy?"  
  
"... Do you mind?"  
  
Kagome smiled, sitting up and brining her blanket around them both, sliding next to him. All she could think of was the golden eyes that marked the change in her life. Two nights free...  
  
"Not at all."

* * *

"So, Ms. Remedy told you about last night?"  
  
Sango nodded, eyeing the silver haired man with appreciative eyes. He was a looker- but nothing compaired to Miroku. And both were polite- in a way, if you forgot that they were men who found drinking themselves silly. Neither of them had tried to move her from the chair near her table. Though, with the way Miroku had been last night, she doubted he needed a bed to be comfortable when fucking.  
  
_His hands went to her hips and traveled up beneath the flimsy fabric she donned for a shirt. Eyes of the deepest indigo burned into her cinnamon orbs and into her intoxicated mind. A hot puff of air brushed against her neck as lips closed on her skin.  
  
The two stumbled into the room, the man barely closing the door before his hands left their previous position to grope her buttocks and lift her, legs wrapping securely around narrow hips. Moments later, she was laid out on her table, her shirt in a bundle on the floor. The man traveled a tongue up the flat of her stomach and stopped just short of her collar bone.  
  
'How about we stop here and catch up later?'  
  
The woman blinked, looking into his lavender eyes. 'What?'  
  
'I think we can take a break...' He shucked off his button-up shirt and handed it to her. 'See, I don't find taking advantage of a woman pleasing... I'm much too sober to let my morals go.'  
  
'Morals?' she dead-panned.  
  
'Well, if you don't want to stop...' His hands took hold of her hips and brought her against him, leaning over her. 'We don't have to...'  
  
'Uh...'  
  
'Let's talk.'  
  
'... Uh...' He flashed her a smile that she couldn't help but trust and be wary of simutaniously. 'Sure...?'_  
  
"Yeah. She is known quite well for her remedy, too." Sango shot him a disapproving glare. "And you drank the one she was giving to me."  
  
"She's the one that offered it," he stated defensively, stretching out on her bed. "You know, I could go for a nice cup of tea, right about now."  
  
"Tea?" Sango repeated, her jaw dropping. "You're joking, right?"  
  
"... Where have I heard that before?" Inuyasha asked himself. "Oh, right- I suppose you wouldn't believe me if I said I'm the co-owner of The Western Lands Company, too."  
  
"No, I believe that. But tea? Why would you come to a pub if you wanted tea and no sex?"  
  
"I have my reasons."  
  
"And you?" Sango asked Miroku as his hand inched up her thigh in a slow line.  
  
"To see the women, of course."  
  
"And not sleep with them?"  
  
Miroku grinned to himself. "I would only dream of it."  
  
"Then, if you really do have your so-called 'morals'," Sango spat, "remove your hand from me."

* * *

Kagome listened intently to the man beside her, her mind registering and storing his words as she counted her blessings on a single hand- Sango, Myouga, Inuyasha, Miroku- for making Sango happy (even if Sango didn't realize it)- and Kouga. Oh, and that her boss hadn't noticed any change in her or Sango. So, she did need two hands, but that was more than enough to make her happy enough to smile.  
  
"She sounds beautiful, but that's not enough," Kouga was saying. "I don't love her- I don't know her! I can't call it off or Dad will disown me and I'll lose my inheritance- I'm a prince, for crying out loud! Why can't I change the law- oh, that's right, because my father set the law stating no King could ever change it! I want to strangle him, but that only means he'll die sooner and I'll be married sooner!"  
  
"You aren't getting married til your father dies?" Kagome inquired, setting a gentle hand on his shoulder. "And you're a prince? Isn't this like... treason... going against your father and sleeping with someone."  
  
Kouga thought for a moment, then nodded. "Thanks for stopping me," he whispered with a far off look. "I'd have been beheaded... And, yes, I'm a prince- prince of the last wolf pack that follows monarchy. The woman I'm supposed to marry is the Mountain Wolves' dictator's granddaughter. It's all politics and promises made long ago I wish Dad had forgotten. And, yes, I don't marry until Father dies."  
  
Kagome smiled and cupped his cheek to look into his eyes with a warm, friendly smile. "Kouga... If you have time to see her before you marry her, why don't you just try to get to know her? That way you'll know. I mean, what if she's your soul mate? How would you know if you shun her without trying...?"  
  
He took her words in and smiled in return. "You're right. You're absolutely right!" he declared, leaping to his feet. "I'm going to-" he began before swaying dangerously. "To fall, I think..."  
  
And he did without another word.  
  
"You have got to be kidding. You just had to fall on the floor, not the bed, didn't you?" Kagome asked the unconscious man sprawled on the ground. "You better be grateful that I'm a considerate woman, Mr. Ookami, and I'm charging you double when you finally deside to wake up and leave to meet that girl of yours."  
  
Mirok sighed and removed his hands, again, from Sango. Leaning back on his elbows, he let his legs dangling off the side of the table, swinging them in a lazy motion. "What now?"  
  
"You can go home, or spend the night and pay me my money from yesterday."  
  
Miroku blinked and sat straight up. "But, I didn't do anything!"  
  
Inuyasha chuckled heartily. "Money grubbing bitches, aren't you?"  
  
"Money grubbing bitches we may be, but we're only that way because of our boss's... uh... Nevermind that," Sango finished, waving her hands with a much too bright smile plastered on. "I'm just rambling from the alcohol."  
  
"That's not what it sounded like to me," Miroku voiced, moving to kneel before her. He searched her eyes. "What is it about this place? You seem so..."  
  
"Afraid?" Inuyasha offered.  
  
"Spirited," Miroku said. "Too intelegant to choose such a degrading profession to pay the bills."  
  
"Thanks," Sango hissed. "Rub it in, why don't you? I've already told you I don't enjoy my work-"  
  
"What's not to enjoy?" Miroku attempted to joke. He was sent a withering glare by Sango as she continued, "and I never said I chose to work here, did I?"  
  
The men were silent, mulling over what she let slip. She bit the inside of her cheek, scolding herself for losing control of her tongue. That may very well be the last thing she ever said.  
  
_'As words frozen in the throat  
Thaw and are uttered at long last  
A cry is heard  
As a surprised yelp  
For the fear of speaking wrong'  
  
_A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter! 


	4. A Past Once Buried

**A/N:** I apologize profusely for the lack in updating! I hope this chapter will make up for it.

ooooooooooooooooooo  
**Whispers of a Screaming Soul**  
_A Past Once Buried_  
By Sakura-chan88  
ooooooooooooooooooo  
_  
'As questions are spoken  
And answers freely surface  
A cry is heard  
For the dampened bliss  
Once so bright by ignorance'_

"What do you mean?" Miroku pressed, his brows furrowed. He cocked his head to the side, looking so innocent- like a child asking where babies came from- that Sango nearly smiled despite the topic. She couldn't blame him for wondering what she meant. Not many people would ever stop to think that her job was forced upon her as if she were a slave. "Cinnamon," he called to her, covering the hand she had let fall to the table with his own. "What do you mean you didn't choose to work here?"

She blinked, clearing her mind. "I... I just didn't have any other options," she lied, knowing it to be lame and pointless. However, she couldn't sit back and tell the men that she was a captive, a prisoner at the Nightingale's Bell, bonded to Naraku because of her father's inability to pay off a debt before his untimely death. Sango wished she could tell- oh, how she wished! - but to let such a wish come true would be the death of her little brother...

It took all of her strength to hold back the tears that threatened to show at the thought of the young boy she had not seen in 12 years.

_'Kohaku...' _

"I mean," she hurried on to say after clearing her throat that seemed to be determined to close on itself, "granted, there are many available jobs out there, but when I was looking for a job it was because my family needed money, and a lot of it." Sango let her eyes turn to steel, along with her conscience, as she continued to lie, digging herself deeper and deeper into sin. "My mother was dieing and my father was unable to work due to a broken arm... Medical bills needed to be paid, rent needed to be paid... This was the best paying job I could get- and I'd do anything for my family- so I took it."

She sighed, looking at the floor, hating herself more with every word she spoke. "When I wanted to leave, I found everyone turned there backs on me. No one would accept a tavern girl to work for them. They wouldn't have such a... thing... ruin their reputation."

_'Please, buy that... please...' _

Inuyasha snorted and Miroku hissed in displeasure, both exchanging looks only friends could decipher. "You seem so intelligent- enough so to meet, if not surpass, any company's standards..." Sango's head slowly rose to look the man in his eyes. His indigo orbs were laced with an emotion she could only describe as disappointment...

Disappointment?

In what?

"So," he continued, "I'd think you'd be smart enough to know that I am not that easy to fool."

She gasped, reeling back in her chair. Sango attempted to pull her hand from his grasp, but found his reaction time a fraction quicker than her own. He grabbed her hand and pulled her forward, bringing her halfway across the table. "Wh-?"

"Please," Inuyasha snorted. "Do you really think we came back here for no reason?"

Sango snapped her gaze to the man sitting on her bed, confusion blazing brightly in her eyes. "I... I don't understand. What do you mean?"

"Cinnamon, my dear," Miroku began, his thumb caressing her captured hand, "didn't you wonder- even for a second- why we came back, even after our talk last night?"

_"I don't find taking advantage of a woman pleasing..." _

"Why are you here?" she asked, gulping down the lump in her throat. She had a bad feeling about this- about the looks she was getting from both men.

Miroku puffed out his chest, almost proudly. "I'm a detective."

Sango dead-panned. "Excuse me?"

"I'm a detective," he repeated slowly, leaning forward. "I was recently employed to find two women that were forced to work here under _extreme _circumstances. And, I happen to know, Cinnamon, that you and our dear little Ms. Remedy are those two little girls... Do you know who is searching for you?"

Her eyes widened, tears instantaneously springing forth. Only one person came to her mind. One person she thought had forgotten her over the last 12 years. One person she hoped, she prayed, to see again.

Her brother.

"Kohaku..."

* * *

Kagome sighed, unable to squelch an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Somehow she knew that something big was going to happen, something she'd find herself caught in the middle of, something life-changing...

And, as always, it frightened her.

Sure, she prayed for a change, for an end of the horrid life she led and the beginning of a new, brighter existence; however, she knew that with change came consequences. Consequences like the sight, the feel, of Naraku's steel-toed boot embedding itself in her side.

Her eyes flickered to the man sleeping on her bed, wishing she could sleep as well and let the building tension in her seep away as she dreamt of a better place. A place such as the cozy home she had left her brother in over ten years ago to keep him from the world she was thrown into.

_'Souta,'_ she called out silently, sniffling as the tears began to gather in her eyes. With the distance between them, both in time and space, she had to wonder. Did he miss her? Did he think of her? Did he even remember her?

He was so young then, barely six years old. He had always been a playful boy, full of life and laughter. That's what she remembered the most - that cheerful smile that took over not only his lips but his eyes as well, sparkling in merriment. So young, so innocent...

_'What I wouldn't give to be with you,'_ she sighed, burying her head in the arms she folded atop the table. _'To see the good in the world.' _

A soft rap on her door jolted Kagome from her thoughts. Wiping the tears from her face, she pushed away from her seat and answered the call.

Sango stood before her with a wavering smile, hands held behind her back. "Hey... I need to talk to you."

Kagome nodded, briefly noting the uncharacteristic silence of the rest of the bar, and allowed the woman to slip into the room. "Sure. Be careful what you say though - I have another overnight guest... Passed out on the floor," she added at Sango's imploring gaze as she closed the door. "So what's up?"

"Well, let me start by saying I hate my life," she hissed, collapsing into a chair.

"And you think I don't?"

Her friend smiled, a small giggle tumbling over her lips. "Kagome... do you remember why you're here?"

_'Where's this coming from?'_ she wondered, moving to sit beside Sango. It had been years since either had talked about their reasons for being enslaved - as it had been a rather difficult subject to breach - and they had promised not to speak of it again. "Of course I do. It was the only way to keep Souta alive."

"And it was the only way to keep Kohaku from becoming one of Naraku's puppets."

Kagome nodded, resting her head in her hands. "Souta was too young, or it would have been the same for me. I'd never let that bastard use my little brother for his drug deals like he does Shippo."

"I feel bad for the kid," Sango stated. "He worked for Naraku for years to keep his parent's alive, and then..."

"... Shippo still doesn't know, does he?" Kagome wondered aloud, her eyes softening at the prospect. "I wish I could tell him."

"You'd be killed if you did. Naraku doesn't take lightly to losing good workers."

"Yeah..." Kagome grunted, standing from her seat to look out the window. "I still don't know why he let my mother go... I know she was pregnant with me, but..."

"The man may be heartless, Kagome," Sango began, running a hand through her hair, "but he knows not to waste an opportunity. If you had been born a boy, you'd be dealing, too."

A humorless chuckle escaped her lips. "Like father like son," she spat. "That's what he hoped for. Instead, he got a baby girl..."

Sango sighed. "Kagome - Naraku is not your father."

The woman shook her head sadly, moving back to her friend's side. "No, but my father's in there somewhere," she hissed. "He wanted that jewel so badly, he'd do anything to get it... And then, mama..."

A gentle hand brushed her bangs away, bringing Kagome's gaze to Sango's. "Your mom did the right thing by wishing on it. Without the jewel, Naraku will remain Naraku - he'll remain destructible."

"But why did she have to wish _that_? And why does Naraku think it still exists?"

"I don't know, Kagome... I don't know."

* * *

"I trust everything is running smoothly," he murmured, watching the woman before him as she straightened her skirt.

"The sheriff is still turning his head the other way," she began, pulling a pack of cigarettes from her handbag. "Plus, Shippo returned from the Kyoto delivery, as well."

"And?"

"Everything went according to plan. We even gained an extra client," she muttered, leaning back in her seat. "He says that the client will supply you with more men for each shipment for payment."

"So, he fell for the decoy," the man smirked in cruel delight.

She nodded, bringing a cigarette to her lips and inhaling deeply. "So it seems," she began, exhaling the thick smoke in a huff.

"Any word on the jewel?" At the woman's sigh, he frowned. "The girls?"

"I've heard nothing out of the ordinary from any Bell. Just the usual 'I hate my life' or 'Naraku's a bastard'... Really, nothing new."

He grinned. "And I'm sure you are not one of those Bells, are you, Kikyo?"

Her lips twisted in a sinister grin, "since when have I thought of you as anything but a narcissistic asshole that is long over due for a meeting with the Grim Reaper, Naraku?"

"Ah," he sighed, "but you seem to forget. Here, I am the one controlling your life line. After all... for a human woman nearing 70, you're quite beautiful."

The woman glared, letting a sneer form without restraint as she folded her hands across her chest, absently rubbing the inner part of her right elbow. "How about we get back to the matter at hand," she hissed, flicking an ash on the floor.

Naraku chuckled, "yes, continue."

"Kaede caught the boys slipping in through their window last night. They seem to be going through the rebellious stage - sneaking out at night and such."

"Is this going to be a problem?"

Kikyo laughed lightly, "no. Both were drunk and neither seems to question what happened all those years ago. After all, who holds onto a belief that their family is alive when they see them lowered six feet in the ground?"

"Indeed."

* * *

"What happened, anyway?" Kagome asked, settling down to listen to her friend.

"I did what you asked," Sango replied with an almost sullen undertone. "Lucky me - I found out he was friends with Miroku and he made me give him the same promise you gave Inuyasha."

A small grin passed over Kagome's lips. "Ah, two caring men - neither pressuring for sex... That must've been a nightmare," she snickered.

"Kagome..." The strict, no-nonsense tone in her voice set Kagome on edge. Something was very wrong... and it was not the time to joke around. "I'm scared."

"Sango-chan, what happened?" she asked, her breath short at the sight of tears gathering in her friend's eyes.

"They know."

Her heart stopped. "What do you mean... they know? How could they?"

Sango sighed, took a deep breath, and laughed. "I let it slip, Kagome... I told them I didn't choose to work here and... and Miroku..."

* * *

Kohaku sighed, pushing the dream that had invaded his sleep away as he stumbled out of bed to answer the hurried knocking. Souta, staggering in much the same way, reached the window seconds before him, slamming the window open with a groggy growl.

"What is it?"

"Don't kill the messenger, now."

Kohaku chuckled, leaning against the wall as he peered at the man through droopy eyes. "As if either of us could even hurt you, Inuyasha."

Said man smirked, "you might not be able to, but your sisters seem more than capable."

"What makes you say that?" Souta asked, his eyes lighting at the mention of Kagome and Sango.

"Well, for one, I thought your sis was trying to poison me-"

"As if your brother hasn't tried that enough times," another man chuckled.

"- and the other girl put Miroku's skull through her table," Inuyasha continued, punching the man beside him at the interruption.

"Why'd she do that?" Kohaku implored, eyeing Miroku with suspicion.

"I merely tried to calm her down."

"I find it hard to believe that groping a woman is any way to calm them down."

"Well, she stopped crying, didn't she?"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"What brings you two here, anyway?" Kohaku began, rubbing his eyes as he yawned. "I doubt you came all the way over here to tell us that Miroku fondled my sister - which I do not approve of in the least."

Inuyasha sighed, the small smile slipping from his face. "We found out what we needed to - about Kikyo..."

"This doesn't sound like it's happy news."

"It's not," Miroku admitted. "We won't be able to get to her without Naraku learning about us. And the girls can't talk to her, either... If they do, everything's ruined. He watches her like a hawk - which is both good and bad. If he didn't, we wouldn't have been able to go back tonight... But that still means..."

"Kikyo's hopeless."

Souta frowned, "don't say that. I'm sure we can do something."

"Nothing short of the Shikon no Tama could keep that girl alive," Inuyasha snorted, rubbing his temples as a headache began to build. "Naraku's got an iron grip on that woman - not even death could break it. She'll be dragged to hell with him."

"Now, that's what we call pessimism, boys," Miroku piped, patting Inuyasha on the shoulder. "And that is exactly why he'll never have a girlfriend."

Inuyasha growled, a murderous glare pinned on Miroku. "Shut the hell up."

Kohaku sighed, shaking his head at the exchange. "Alright, guys, we get it. We'll tell Kaede about Kikyo. Now, when is everything going to happen?"

* * *

Kagome gasped, "you... you mean... Kohaku and Souta...?"

Sango smiled, tears tumbling from her wetted lashes. "Even seeing us buried all those years ago... They think we're alive. They know we're alive..."

Kagome took a deep breath, trying to register the information given to her, but it was so hard to believe. How could their brothers possibly even think that they were still alive? How could they, although they had watched caskets holding puppets with their faces be lowered into the ground, believe that they still breathed, still walked, still existed...?

"It... it doesn't make sense," she whispered. "How could they-"  
_  
"You're lucky I stopped by Kaede's for her spell-casting or you would have squashed me."_

"Grandpa Myouga..."

Sango nodded. "Remember when he took our picture for Ryu?"

"Yeah," she said with a fond smile. "That woman always did want to meet us, though I still can't understand why."

Sango shrugged, "it doesn't matter. Maybe she just wanted to see Myouga's 'Little Girls'."

Kagome giggled. "Makes sense... So, Myouga showed them the picture. But, Kaede would have informed Naraku, wouldn't she?"

"Uh... Kagome," Sango began, squirming uneasily in her chair. "That's another thing... Kaede won't inform Naraku because, if she does, that means that Kikyo didn't tell him about the picture. After all, it was Kikyo watching us that night. It's the only way that Myouga got away with it... Meaning..."

Kagome sucked in a sharp breath, letting the pieces fall into place. "Naraku would... he'd kill Kikyo."

Nodding, the woman sighed. "Miroku said that things are going to get a little tricky from here. They are going to get Kaede and our brothers to a safe place - I made them promise - but we have to get ourselves out of here... They'll come around every few nights to sort everything out."

"But, that will still leave Kikyo... and all of the other girls," Kagome breathed, overwhelmed by what she was being told. "I can't just abandon them - they're in the same predicament we're in."

"Kagome... Kikyo will die, no matter what we do," Sango whispered, pained by what she said. "She's bound to Naraku and there is nothing we can do to change that... She was the first Bell... and she will be the last one..."

"'I was the beginning and I will be the end'," Kagome sniffled the words Kikyo spoke so easily. "Do you think she knows about... about everything?"

"I don't know."

They sat in silence a moment, contemplating what they knew in an attempt to answer their many questions. The first and foremost being: How can they get word around to the other girls without Naraku catching wind of the rebellion?

"The new moon," Kagome squealed the biggest smile on her face as she clapped her hands before her. "That's when we can make a break for it..."

Sango grinned, catching the line of thought without a hitch. "Now, we have to tell the others... and what to do about Kikyo..."

"I'm not sure what to do about Kikyo," Kagome admitted, her smile dimming a bit. "As for the others, we'll tell them on that day. After Naraku leaves, when Kikyo takes over managing the club, we'll tell them..."

Sango nodded, "then cut the power..."

"And make a run for it."

"You tell Inuyasha," Sango instructed, "and I'll handle Miroku. If either of them find something wrong with it, we'll switch partners the next night..."

"Fine with me," Kagome grinned. _'I'm going to have to thank Myouga the next time I can... and the boys... and Miroku and Inuyasha...'_ She snorted, "I can't believe it, Sango... I really can't believe it..."

"Neither can I, Kagome... But it's true - we're going home."

Kagome laughed. "That's not what I mean Sango."

The woman frowned, an eyebrow rising in confusion. "What can't you believe then?"

Eyes sparkling with ironic humor, lips twisted in a wry smirk, Kagome purred, "I never imagined I'd find any reason to be thankful of any man that entered my life and here I am giving every ounce of gratitude to a handful of them..."

_'As clouds disperse from the sky  
And the sun shines with hope  
A cry is heard  
As a light whimper  
From a heart unbelieving,'  
_

* * *

**A/N:** Finally, I got another chapter written. Sorry for the lengthy pause... really lengthy pause... but, alas, it could not be helped. Also, I'm sorry for the short chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it none the less... This story will probably go a little faster from here - in pace, not updates, sadly. I'm doing the best I can at the moment.  
Please review.  
Love,  
Sakura-chan88 


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